&

ShadowPlanes
Pocket Worlds
A Dark Roads and

Supplement
Golden Hells
 Shadow Planes
Pocket Worlds
&
A Dark Roads and Golden Hells
Supplement

Credits
Lead Designer: Dan Voyce Cover Artist: Malcolm McClinton
Designers: Jarrod Camiré, Sarah Hood, Interior Artists: Rick Hershey, Marc Radle,
Chad Middleton, Umber Phillips, Hugo Solis, Corey Trego-Erdner
John Pope, Burt Smith, Brian Suskind, Cover Design and Interior Layout: Marc Radle
George “Loki” Williams Publisher: Wolfgang Baur
Editor: Scott Gable

Patrons
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Easterbrook, Jeffrey Erwin, Ben Ferguson, Jordan Fong, Mike Franke, Michael Furlanetto, Steve Geddes, Georg Gerleigner, Thilo Graf, Richard Green, Allan
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Brian Suskind, Constantin Terton, Josh Thompson, Sigfried Trent, Ian Turner, Lane Van Wormer, Giorgio Vergani, Cory Vickruck, Oliver von Sprecklesen,
Michael Waite, Stephen Wark, Oliver Weigel, Michael Welham, Joe Wells, George Williams, Benton Wilson, Henry Wong, Todd Worrell

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Planes of Wonder Table of Contents
The experience of visiting the planes in an RPG should always be
one of wonder and surprise, of demons redeemed, of mysteries OTHER LOCATIONS 4
for warriors and combat among philosophers. This collection of
the strange and the mysterious contains all the elements that just MORA, THE CHILDREN’S TABLE 4
couldn’t fit into the main volume of planar lore from Open Design, RUSTY GEARS: The Tale of Charun
the Dark Roads & Golden Hells sourcebook. But these elements are and Ariadne 10
just as wondrous and strange, and the monsters, the dark plane, and
the hazards described here are useful to any adventurer who forsakes
ordinary realms for stranger planes. GAMEMASTERING INFINITY 11
PLANAR TRAPS, HAZARDS
Interestingly enough, the demi-plane of Mora presented here was & AFFLICTIONS 11
considered “too evil” by some patrons of the Dark Roads & Golden
Hells project. It is certainly a vile place, but perhaps that makes MAGIC ITEMS 16
heroes visiting it seem more virtuous by comparison. Certainly
Mora is the first location Open Design has ever published that made
BESTIARY 20
someone quit a project in protest. I’m not sure that’s a moment to
be proud of, exactly, but Open Design does have a long history of NEW TEMPLATES 20
the experimental, the weird, and the oddball material that larger NEW MONSTERS 21
publishers don’t exactly embrace. It’s possible that this strays over the
line for some readers—that judgment is up to you.
OPEN GAME LICENSE 25
As so often at Open Design, this project was spearheaded by Dan
Voyce, but the work was done by a talented group including members
of the Planewalker.com fan site. I think that Shadow Planes & Pocket
Worlds provides a lot of worthy material for gaming, and hope you
find it likewise useful and entertaining.

Onward!

Wolfgang Baur
Kirkland, WA

A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement 3

 MORA, THE
CHILDREN’S TABLE
By Umber Phillips

“There is a realm that exists on the outskirts of rational thought, flickering

between phantasmal dreamscapes and the black Sea of Id. A hideous continent
shrouded in the most primal recesses of the collective consciousness. All beings
that hope, fear, dream, or doubt have at one time or another glimpsed its
grotesque heights, scraped its skeletal branches, and fought its slurping soils.
“It is a joke among demons and the shame of Heaven. It is the enemy of decent
men and a worthy goal for heroes. I’m no hero, but good luck.”
—Cicerone the Upfallen

HISTORY
M
ora is a foreboding, fog-choked isle cast in the center of a
black, restless sea. Its location in the wider cosmology is
a mystery, recessed somewhere without stars. The outlier Legends abound of the realm’s origin, but many believe Mora was
of Mora consists of innumerable shards of darkened stone jutting once a primordial being or celestial mother cast out for betraying
from the waters, like teeth pointing inward, as if some monolithic her sacred duties—for preying upon children instead of protecting
them, for wounding instead of nurturing, for frightening instead of
Other Locations

kraken were about to surface and swallow the isle whole. The mists
intensify, masking the exact shorelines, and cover a sprawling,
haunted moorland before eventually slipping away along the hills
and highlands. The land grows steeper and narrower, defying
natural limits and taking on the quality of a singular, needling
spire. An ancient and crooked stair winds around this Lonely Spire,
culminating in a small, forested tableland and the much-maligned
Children’s Table.
comforting. Mora was flung into the blackest depths, only to survive
a broken, wretched, spiteful thing. There was said to be a great weight
cast upon her so that she might never rise again: the stone that would
become the Children’s Table or perhaps the isle itself. Through long
eons, the separation between Mora the isle and Mora the supposed
chthonic mother blurred, and the realm’s malicious nature suggests
they have become one and the same.

PLANAR TRAITS
Mora is a lonely planar isle rising from a sea of darkness and
impenetrable fog.
• Self-Contained Demiplane: Finding Mora is difficult but
escaping its gloomy sprawl is harder still. The only consistent
means of entrance and exit exists in the bogeymen’s Bleakhouse,
the crossings beyond the Gnash, and intermittent portals
scattered across the realm.
• Sentient: Mora is a sadistic entity. Survival checks suffer a −4
penalty. Location-based spells have a 30% chance of failure.
• Strongly Evil-Aligned
• Enhanced Magic: Spells with the fear descriptor are enhanced in
Mora. Furthermore, specific spells become more powerful. Spells
that produce any kind of mist or fog are considered enlarged as
per the metamagic feat. Subjects of the phantasmal killer spell
suffer a −2 to Will saves to disbelieve the figment.
• Impeded Bonus: All morale bonuses suffer a −1 penalty.
The She
The undisputed rulers of Mora are the she: free-willed, feminine
aspects of the sentient isle itself, which are known to spring out of the
black earth and blasphemous mires without apparent cause. Sharing
little else besides a mother, the she are as varied as the monsters they
command, and most attract subservient creatures of like kind. While
Mora no doubt has a purpose for the she, nothing has materialized
out of their existence beyond petty rivalries and squabbles for
dominion, for the she are bound to Mora and may never leave it.
Ranging in power from lowly hags to grand fiends, the she
inherit bits and pieces of Mora’s personality, such as its hatred for
children, thirst for blood, and desire to rule. Few are content to work
their malice solely in Mora, and many she extend their reach through
loyal underlings, powerful spells, and cunning manipulations
across worlds. Thusly, Mora and its daughters sustain all kinds of
extraplanar villainy and lie at the heart of many devious plots.
The Faceless Queen
The Faceless Queen stands above all other she, oldest of Mora’s
surviving daughters. She looms, an eternal figure in a land otherwise
mercurial and contested, having triumphed over hundreds of her

4 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds

sisters and interlopers from realms celestial, mortal, and fiendish.
While few have looked upon her face, her reclusive nature does not
hinder the venomous potency of her will. A vast network of spies
and underlings act in her interest. These hordes are comprised of
wicked prowlers and murderous nannies across dozens of worlds—
angry ghosts, night hags, and nightmarish oni—but her predominant
soldiers are the stalkers, abductors, and traffickers of children with
whom she shares a special affinity: bogeymen.
The queen’s forces control the Lonely Spire and the majority of its
tableland, drawing wealth and power from the child auctions and the
alliances they bring. When her soldiers, knights, and other servants
need to descend into lower Mora, they operate like unchallenged
thugs and secret police, answering only to higher authority within
the queen’s pecking order. Even she are loathe to interfere with the
queen’s minions for fear of their eldest sister, though bogeymen and
other underlings have been known to have “accidents” or simply
disappear when they push too hard.
Some believe the Faceless Queen nothing more than a phantom
concocted by the bogeymen to maintain their supremacy, but those
fools pay dear prices eventually. She know better. The Faceless Queen
is real, she is watching, and if it moves her, she will descend with a
fury as irresistible as the coming of night.
GEOGRAPHY
Gnash
Circumscribing Mora is a labyrinthine ring of razor-sharp rocks in
placid, dark water. Most have a slight curvature, aimed toward Mora,
and glisten in the weak light of a distant moon.
Known as the Gnash, the ring’s “teeth” range in size, some large
enough to be named islands in their own right, filled with cold,
dripping caves and riddled with slippery ledges, while others are
just small enough to go unnoticed by sharp-eyed captains until the
hulls of their ships are ripped out from under them. Very few dare
to sail these waters and, even then, frequent only two or three of the
innumerable channels.
Mists along the outer-most teeth are thin and discernible, but
the closer one comes to Mora’s shore, the more twisted and obscured
the way becomes. Fog thickens, offering concealment and total
concealment in places, coupled with varying depths of darkness.
While difficult to notice in the gloom, the teeth also shift from time
to time, opening and closing passages with only the slightest lapping
and faint breezes heralding their movements. Teeth have been
known to come upon vessels suddenly, crushing all but the quickest
and most wary.
Dread Sound: In a long, narrow pass between two immense rows of
teeth, confounded with shelves and shallow caves, sirens and harpies
lair in alarming number. Beautiful and passionate songs echo across
the channel, filling the shadows with a misplaced allure. The dark
hides the smears of feces, blood, and entrails upon the steep walls,
and gnawed bones crowd the lowest ledges. Dread Sound is a place
of monstrous feasting and revelry where bird women carry their
squirming meals for dissection and dance upon the gusts in bloody
ecstasy. They’ve been known to hunt far and wide but very rarely
descend upon Mora. The flocks know of secret crossings where the
Sea of Id connects to earthly waters. Often, they’ll use these points
to launch terrestrial raids, only to return with spoils. When the
opportunity presents itself, they’ll even lure entire ships across the
planar border as a fine feast for their she queen.
Just below the waters of the sound lurks a nightmarish creature
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
of myth, an immense and ancient she known as Nythes (Gargantuan
she scylla). With each revelry, the bird women make sacrifices in
her honor, dropping live prey screaming into the chasm. Those poor
souls never reach the water, instead captured in crushing green
tentacles and fed to Nythes’ writhing, snapping mass of scaly wolf
heads. In the rare instances Nythes has need to speak with her flocks,
her elusive nymph frond emerges from the deep and calls to them
with the most beautiful voice in Mora.
Nythes is a brilliant foe, utilizing planar crossings along the
Sea of Id to unleash her flocks in calculated attacks across dozens
of different waterways. In so doing, Nythes controls numerous
trade routes and can manipulate the fortunes of all ships within
her flock’s reach. Pirates have begun courting her favor, particularly
the Brotherhood of Lovkar, coordinating their raids with harpy
and siren ambushes. In return, they provide Nythes with treasure,
information, and a presence outside of Mora. Only one she has
proven more cunning and well connected than Nythes—the Faceless
Queen, whom the scylla counts her bitterest rival.
Shadowbox: Impaled upon the heights of the Gnash’s largest tooth
tilts a lantern of grand proportions: a castle of aged, angled timber
and stretched parchment, folded and fastened many times around
the stone, like a paper cocoon. A mysterious light source rivaling
Mora’s own sickly sun glows golden from within, visible during
those rare times when the mists relent or an unfortunate ship sails
too near its rise. The singular beacon emanates warmth and casts
many exotic shadows upon its faces. Men, women, fantastic animals,
and shifting inkblots, these shadows mesmerize and make even the
strongest yearn.
When visible from the mainland of Mora, the shadows duplicate
the effects of the haze of dreams spell (DC 15), compelling those
affected to travel ever nearer the Shadowbox. When visible from the
Other Locations
Gnash, the shadows duplicate the effects of charm monster (DC 22)
so long as the Shadowbox is visible, plus 1 day following that. Those
charmed are compelled to reach the Shadowbox and enter, which is
a very treacherous intention indeed, climbing the slick cliffs to the
summit, never mind passing beyond the threshold.
What lies within the Shadowbox is the topic of broad speculation,
but Nythes and her flocks avoid it at all costs. Common theory
holds little answers, but the wildest speculations claim another,
more powerful she dwells in the Shadowbox. Laughable rumor or a
goddess in exile, the Shadowbox is given the widest berth whenever
possible.
Creeps
Beyond uneven shores lies a dense bank of fog hovering over a
sodden moorland known as the Creeps, named for its slimy hills
and moldy rises, serpentine streams and meres, and most of all the
stalkers in its soupy gloom—groping ghouls, banshees, hags, and
vampires among them. An unshakable chill dominates the Creeps,
and the persistent fog provides concealment throughout the moors
and total concealment in lower-lying areas. The effectiveness of any
spell or other effort to displace this fog is halved.
Ancient structures are strewn about the Creeps, neck-deep in the
mires, linked by a meandering crosshatch of old roads. Fortresses of
weathered stone, cloven monoliths, flattened manors, and shattered
bridges speak to the rise and fall of uncounted she and many more
of their adherents. Over the ages, the moors have become a sort of
neutral graveyard for secretive meetings and clandestine alliances.
Monsters mostly congregate here, skulking in the shadows of the
monuments, waiting for a queen to rise or perhaps return again.
5

Memoriasmas
Mora’s reality is difficult to accept, and the haunted fog of
the Creeps can push minds to their utmost limits. When
panic is at its ripest, Mora embraces a victim’s ardent desire
for home and happiness and turns it into the perfect prison.
A DC 20 Will save is required to resist the plane’s illusory
advances, which recreate an isolated pocket of memory in
the victim’s mind, perhaps a bedroom, party, or some small
element from a happy thought. Within it, a victim plays out a
cyclical fantasy on a tiny stage over and over again, believing
everything is normal and all right.
Whenever the memoriasma is intruded upon by direct
contact with the victim, perhaps by an attacking monster or
an ally unwittingly trying to snap a friend out of the stupor,
the delusion bursts. The victim suffers 150 negative energy
damage and is panicked by the intruder for 1d4 rounds.
Mora, if particularly pleased by the reaction, may see fit
to plunge the victim into yet another illusion, forcing another
Will save. The isle has been known to keep “pets” for years on
end, found on occasion pantomiming aimlessly throughout
the countryside. The more sadistic Moranians allow those
poor souls to pass unimpeded, taking pleasure in their
victimization.
Memoriasmas can be overcome without ill effect, but
it requires gentle appeals and more than a little cleverness
to walk a person out of temporary psychosis (3 consecutive
Diplomacy checks, DC 15, 20, 25). Spells that access the
mind and certain psionic disciplines might provide a +2
circumstance bonus toward this end. If successful, the victim
Other Locations
suffers 75 negative energy damage and is shaken for 1 round.
Hell’s fugitive souls, warlocks shunning their pacts, and debtors
hiding from brutal planar paymasters have also been known to take
refuge here or, more accurately, trade one agonizing existence for
another.
Mibben Filt: Huddled upon a rocky mound and mossy foundation
of what once was a great fortress, the village of Mibben Filt wallows.
Its wet thatch huts and crude stone cottages house a collection of
gibbering hags known as the Mibben Wives. Squat, obese, toothless
creatures, the Wives employ a network of thieving faeries and
strong-arm spriggans for the sole purpose of collecting ivories.
Their slimy fingers are constantly caressing the latest procurements,
testing, appraising. They pay obscene amounts of coin and magic for
particularly fine specimens.
The wive’s obsession with teeth, nails, horns, and bones stems
from the ancient past and the history of the plot they haunt. Mibben
Filt was once the site of the Palace Pale, stronghold of one of the only
he in all of Mora’s history. While the she are reflections of Mora,
once in a great while, the isle produces a true son and heir. Like a
she, a he is a paragon of his kind, possessed of powerful magic and
dread influence. However, unlike his sisters, a he is fully capable
of departing the isle and returning at whim. The unfair advantage
catapulted the he known as the Prince of Ivories into a position to
conquer Mora ages ago, backed by an army of extraplanar horrors.
She after she fell to his might, and his campaign created at least
half of the Creeps’ ruins. It took an unprecedented alliance of she
6 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
to defeat him and barely at that, led by the three most powerful
daughters the isle had ever seen: the sultry Moira, the hag-faced
Maera, and the mother of the bogey herself, the Faceless Queen. The
Prince of Ivories was reduced to splinters, and the remainder of his
forces driven into the deep, foggy places.
The wives are a collection of loyal pariahs, pining for the return
of their lord and set upon the impossible task of reconstructing
him. Though most consider the coven mad, they have uncovered
fragments of their beloved prince, and with their skill and fervor and
fresh supplies of quality ivory, perhaps the he’s rebirth is not such a
crazed notion after all.
Tielgrauf: In the heart of a nameless bog stands the colony of
Tielgrauf, a young settlement built upon sturdy piers and stilts. Its
lodges are connected by various bridges and walkways, sheltered
under weeping willows well fed upon sorrow and grown thick as
castle turrets and nearly as high. Gnarled roots and mortared stone
provide a sound fortification for the predominantly mongrelmen
residents.
Peaceful and hideous outcasts, the first Tielgraufan mongrelmen
were led to Mora by their patchwork hero Dosselfrud (Mongrelman
ranger 2/wizard 7). The unique mongrelman possessed enough
bogeyman parts to activate one of the fraternity’s secret doors,
leading a party of persecuted brethren to a new life in the masking
shroud of the Creeps. Dosselfrud has since managed to craft a portal
unique to Tielgrauf—the hollow of the oldest willow in the colony—
and his people have traveled back and forth between worlds offering
shelter, acceptance, and new beginnings for the persecuted and
shunned. Many have accepted the invitation, and the village contains
a fair number of lepers, deformed creatures, tragic burn victims, and
ungainly half-breeds.
Tielgrauf manages to thrive despite everything Mora embodies,
making something good in its misery and isolation. With the
existence of a portal outside the she’s control, Tielgrauf has been
faced with increasing attack by the servants of two local she,
Iskarimsa (she troglodyte druid 3) and Gresia Pikkens (she swamp
giant barbarian 4). Ironically, these attacks have accelerated what the
she feared most—the mongrelmen inviting heroes and challengers
onto the isle. In recent months, Tielgrauf has been a launching point
for outsiders hunting missing children or seeking vengeance against
the she.
Weaklight Inn: The trod of hooves, hundreds of dim lights, and
a creaking of gigantic proportions marks Weaklight’s approach.
Groaning on four carriage wheels the size of watermills, a mobile inn
on a rickety wooden chassis materializes. A lone, hooded driver sits
the bench, overlooking an immense team of skeleton beasts, lanterns
dangling from their ribs and necks, candles set in their empty sockets.
Lamps and lanterns overwhelm the manor: beautifully wrought
of silver, brass, and other metals; paned with decorative glass; lit by
various candles and oils, some scented or burning eerie greens and
blues. The house is old and settled, its roofs slouching. Its walls are
marked with highly detailed carvings in the gray, weathered wood:
dancing skeletons, baying hounds, and hooded congregations walking
in long trains. If an inn could serve has a holy place, then Weaklight
Inn is more a church than a stopover. Travelers are welcome to stay,
served by the resident, monk-like Order of Beaconers.
Beaconers are one of the few Moranian orders not under the
influence of a she and which maintain absolute neutrality in all
the dark isle’s politics. Their sole mission is to guide others to their
appointed destinations, for the beaconers themselves renounce all
homes and places of belonging. Recognized by their obscuring robes
and their shepherds’ staves, each beaconer also possesses a unique Mora’s long history. Those who’ve died upon the Rood numbered the
and personalized beacon, lamp, lantern, or some other means of enemies of many she—ferried to the neutral isle for the agonizing
providing light. Beaconers brave the moors and beyond to light the touch of the most sadistic creature in Mora, the dark dryad Dearga
way for their charges, a duty they consider akin to geas. To help them Dul (she dryad vampire druid 4/inquisitor 7).
fulfill their vow, beaconers possess strange powers. Whatever light Standing only 5 ft. in height, Dearga exudes menace like a corpse
remains in beaconers’ grasps can never be extinguished, and upon exudes stench. Funerary shrouds cling to her lithe form, glued by
the foul earth of Mora, beaconers never lose their way. Such gifts sour-smelling saps and embalming paste. Upon her face is a mask of
have raised them as the only true guides in Mora, and they are highly petrified elm, possessing the likeness of a child and driven into her
sought after by travelers, bounty hunters, adventuring parties, and head by 16 iron nails. Infectious pus glistens about the spikes, and
bogeymen. where eyes should be are simply wet, sticky holes.
The head of the beaconers is referred to as Lord Innkeeper, Dearga never speaks: her purpose is conveyed solely through
currently a white-robed cenobite known as the Skeleton Man. His her despicable acts. To aid her in her work, she’s cowed the bestial
is a black-iron shepherd’s staff with a glowing, golden skull hung wights native to the wood, who follow her like hounds and lap the
on a chain from the crook. His voice is dry and wispy, and his blood from her feet. The she is known to derive great pleasure with
frame suggests little more than bones.
Exemplifying the tenants of the order,
the Skeleton Man is without judgment or
leaning, focused only on the maintenance
of the inn and its beaconers, but he
possesses a vast knowledge of Mora and
the foul things that go on within it. As
the one who accepts payment for the
beaconers’ services (paid always upfront
and usually in coppers), added donations
have been known to convince the Lord
Innkeeper to part with rumors, news,
and warnings.

Weeps
Closer to the Lonely Spire, Mora develops
rough highlands and mountains, which
create a maze of uneven cirques and

Other Locations
corries. Many of these fissures are
flooded and hundreds of lochs and meres
make islands of summits and hilltops.
The slopes are soggy messes, prone to
landslides and riddled with peat and
quicksand.
What rock and solid earth endures
is clearly marked by crowded stands of
trees, waterlogged whitebeams, beech,
and elms, collected wherever they can
take root. These scattered woods are
considered precious by the creatures
of the Weeps, and more often than not
are claimed by primal fey, territorial
monsters, and savage she.

Isle of Rood: The oldest tree in Mora

is known as the Rood, an inosculated
beech, like three torsos fused at the chest.
The ways its boughs have grown over a
thousand years are eerily reminiscent
of arms reaching skyward. Their aerial
roots stretch, like so many muscular
striations along the lengths. It stands in
the center of a copse of lesser trees, the
canopies teeming with hungry crows.
Consumed by iron nails and stained
a spectrum of browns and reds, the Rood
has bore thousands of crucifixions over

A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement 7

 every victim mounted upon her tree, bleeding as it bleeds, suffering
as it suffers. The Rood is a pained thing and so is its dryad. Dearga
revels in such a deplorable mix of agonies.
Lonely Spire
Rising above Mora’s murk is a cylinder of stone, a great, narrow
mountain that defies gravity. Treacherous cliffs and precarious
ledges—17 miles long—are caressed by mournful winds and stretch
from the isle’s wet base into a dim sky, cold and terribly clear. Only
the distant moon offers light, and it is weak and leaves much to
shadow and second-guessing. Mildew, fungi, and ice cover the most
dangerous precipices as if by malign design and the air becomes very
thin.
The Lonely Spire allows for expansive views of the starless
darkness and the Sea of Id, horizons of oppressive nothing, inspiring
overwhelming hopelessness throughout the journey. The climb has
led to the suicidal plunge of many would-be climbers, requiring a DC
15 Will save after every battle and between rests. The DC increases
by 1 with each new save opportunity.
The spire would be unscalable if it weren’t for the Crooked Stair,
cut by unknown tools wielded by unknown hands—though the
markings suggest fingernails and blunted teeth. No one has ever
bothered to count the steps, but a million would not be a ridiculous
estimate. Some are very small and short while others require picks
and pitons to mount. It could be that many different races had a hand
in carving the stair, but the reason why is a perplexing one. All that
waits at the top are the sorrows of the tableland, and lining the spire
are nothing but dreadful landmarks and maniacal predators.
Bleakhouse: Recessed near the top of the Crooked Stair, the
foreboding headquarters of the bogeymen waits. Its high turrets,
exaggerated peaks, and skinny, prison-like windows are carved
Other Locations
from the rock itself. The interior is a clutter of baroque furnishings
and pilfered gains. A labyrinth of claustrophobic chambers sit at
deranged angles and slanted pitches, teeming with dead‐ends,
cyclical staircases, and doors without hinges or knobs. Sometimes
proportion ceases to function normally amidst its turns, as if a
madman scrawled his insanity on paper and ordered it built.
Bleakhouse serves as boarding house for transient bogeymen
between hunts and holds more permanent accommodations for
The Narrowd
The gaps between walls, crawlspaces, sewer pipes, attics,
and chimneys, the Narrowd is a planar road comprised of
every uncomfortable, tight, dark space out of plain view and
linked together through spacial bending. Proportions alter
strangely on the Narrowd, allowing Medium creatures to
travel the nexus of oppressive pathways but forcing them to
inch, squeeze, and eek their way through. Likewise, regularly
Tiny creatures sometimes find themselves growing much
larger, making deadly predators of standard rats and spiders.
The Narrowd is the preferred means of travel for smallfolk,
particularly household fey, but is not limited to wererats
and bogeymen. Its entrances and exits consist of awkward
and out-of-the-way places, like under beds, out of cupboard
cabinets, between cramped, derelict buildings, and behind
cellar doors..
8 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
esteemed child-snatchers. Here lairs the dread sire of the bogeymen,
Torbalan the Bag Man, and many of the Vicious Circle. Some even
wonder if, in one of the more guarded wings, the Faceless Queen
holds court.
Bleakhouse is more than a twisted manor; it is also a hopeless
corral. The bogeymen gleefully scare children into blind races
through its corridors, and the music of little screams can be heard
from every corner. Bleakhouse has no obvious means of escape:
every door and window is a portal back to itself. Only the bogeymen
recognize the true ways in and out and, like minotaurs and their
mazes, can locate hidden pathways throughout the sprawl. These
portals lead to the Narrowd and can be found anywhere. Kitchen
cauldrons, broom closets, butler’s pantries, or laundry shoots might
all access hidden portals. Finding these portals is extremely difficult
in the manor’s clutter and requires a DC 30 Perception check. Most
children are only temporary residents, awaiting their time on the
Children’s Table, but those who get sufficiently lost simply starve or
go mad before finding even one portal, never mind the right one.
Very rarely, though, someone escapes.
Few outside the bogeymen realize that Bleakhouse is alive and
that it derives nourishment from children’s pawing and scurrying. As
children push the boundaries of its mazes, Bleakhouse develops new
halls and chambers to accommodate them. In such a way, the manor
has grown vast over centuries, and some suspect it could meander
through the whole of the Lonely Spire. It is a direct reflection of the
health and success of the bogeymen’s fraternity.
Door to Dreaming: A titanic stone face contorts in agony along
the rising cliffs, its yawn a sealed door sized for giants and set with
massive iron rings. The Door to Dreaming is the most puzzled-over
landmark in Mora. Its name alone gives rise to wild speculation.
Perhaps it’s a gateway to the infinite fields of mortal dreams? Could
it be the portal to higher planes, the Heaven that Mora was banished
from? Or like so many things in Mora, could it be nothing more
than a deception? Is the door false hope, an object to look upon
and futilely long for or, worse, some sort of trap, opening to a place
even more despairing? Some claim it is the entrance to the Faceless
Queen’s palace, a dungeon extending the interior of the Lonely Spire.
Regardless of what lies beyond, there have been no accounts of the
doors ever opening.
Tableland
A skeletal wood casts claw-like shadows across the tableland,
called by some the Forest of Dead Dreams. Briar and thistle grow
thick and fierce across the floors, infested with diminutive fey and
stalked by a unique breed of mangy, ashen dweomercat. Mora is its
most malicious here and all Survival checks suffer a −8 penalty. All
locating spells have a 50% chance of failure.
Bogeymen extend their reach from the Lonely Spire and to the
heart of the wood, where rests the Children’s Table. They operate
numerous outposts and guard winding trails between it and
Bleakhouse. The proverbial big, bad wolf Maugdrar (werewolf ranger
8) and his wargs patrol the trails on behalf of the Faceless Queen.
The remote wilderness, however, is entirely the purview of
the Bairn, child rangers, druids, and shaman, empowered by fey
magic. Their war has been raging the last hundred years, making
the tableland a heavily contested battlefield often marked by guerilla
skirmish.
Children’s Table: In the heart of the Forest of Dead Dreams, there
is a ring of monolithic cairns weathered into hideous shapes like
hunched, wailing figures. Their frozen faces reflect all creatures
in their moments of basest horror. In their sprawled shadows, the
bogeymen convene, dragging their catches, kicking and squealing,
to the Children’s Table, an ancient, immovable slab where monsters
gather for the infamous child auctions.
Kicked, prodded, pinched, and paraded, terrified youth
are driven onto the block for purchase by the ravenous crowds,
gathered twice a month under the full and new moon. Hags, ghouls,
werewolves, devils, shadow fey, the bidders are an evil menagerie
from Mora and beyond. Most come of their own power, others are
escorted from portals in Bleakhouse, up the Crooked Stair, and
through well-guarded trails to the site. The auctions are heard and
seen for miles, marked by billowing vulgar smoke, illuminated by
strangely colored fires, and by miserable choruses of cackles, howls,
and depraved festivity. years beneath the notice of the she. When the bogeymen rose to
There is no singular currency at auction, every bogeyman
requiring payment befitting his particular fancy. Some value coins
and gems, others magic, still others a particular service. No offer is
taboo, and the child‐nappers are normally quite willing to make a
deal. Similarly, there is no expected etiquette so long as the business
of the table continues without interruption. Those who needlessly
complicate sales, are unable to pay their bids, or otherwise tamper
with the merchandise quickly find themselves on the receiving end
of the bogeymen’s wrath.
Torbalan the Bag Man
Torbalan the Bag Man (unique bogeyman rogue 10): The
quintessential bogeyman with his stained sack cast over
one warped shoulder: the bag kicks and weeps and begs
in muffled voices whether empty or full. Tall and crooked,
he just barely passes as humanoid in the shadows of unlit
streets and darkened rooms. Torbalan has three times as
many joints as a normal bogeyman, one too many fingers
and toes, and twice as many teeth shoved into an overlong
jaw. Warts, tumors, and deformities across his face and body
suggest foreheads, elbows, chins, cheeks and hips where there
oughtn’t be and make it a difficult task to look him dead on.
The Bag Man spends very little time exposed with help
from his quickness and cloak of pure shadow in addition to his
small trove of magic rings, belts, bracers, slippers and tunics,
all of which he wears in excess. Because of his many bumps
and almost‐appendages, each item bestows its enchantment
upon him regardless of normal limitations, making for an
extremely formidable foe—not even accounting for his
ancient cunning and prowess.
Torbalan is general of the Faceless Queen’s forces. He
suffers no challenge: his sole rule of the bogeyman fraternity
over the ages is proof enough of that. Through a grand
mastery of fear tactics and an iron will, Torbalan manages
the queen’s vast network across the planes, and despite its
universal infamy, the Bag Man has ensured not only that the
organization continues but also that it flourishes.
Such power and prestige has drawn a very prominent
admirer, the witch‐queen Baba Yaga. She is rumored to share
an intimate bond with Torbalan, and he is the witch’s sole
provider of baby teeth, rendered fat, locks of hair, and all her
other child-borne spell components.
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
Though the table is used but twice a month, the bogeymen’s
work never ceases. It’s always night somewhere, and bogeymen are
driven to fill as much of Bleakhouse as they can between auctions.
Garden of Innocence: The tree fortress of the Bairn is a village
of living woods, vine bridges, and gossamer hammocks within a
pocket of starry twilight, unabashed greenery, and the sweet smells
of juniper, strawberries, and hazel. Faerie magic stays Mora’s gloom
and bars evil from entering. Not even time passes, and those who
enter are immune to all forms of aging. The garden is the launching
point for all Bairn activities and a sanctuary for when the bogeymen
threaten to overwhelm them.
Created by the faerie king Pwyll Pwun, his people thrived for
power, Pwyll challenged them for dominion of the tableland, but he
was ultimately no match for the Faceless Queen. The Bairn fled into
a garden dimension of Pwyll’s own making, but in order to mask it
from evil’s notice, he was forced to enter an eternal twilight state.
He dutifully made the sacrifice and welcomed, beyond his own, the
various children who’d managed to flee the bogeymen.
These children, the Bairn, remained ever since, fiercest among
them the boy Shyah (human druid 16), who has spent 100 years
mastering Bairn magic, despite appearances. In many respects, he
has replaced the comatose Pwyll as shaman king and has slowly
recruited an army of freed children to end the affront of the table.
Imaginary Friends
It is quite possible, while exploring the Forest of Dead
Other Locations
Dreams, that visitors encounter imaginary friends from
their childhoods. Visitors who survive 1d3+1 days in the
forest have been known to stumble upon old friends sitting
patiently for a “tea party” or have had creatures resembling
their stuffed animals and forgotten toys leap to the rescue in
a time of dire need.
These reunions are often emotional, as heartstrings from
earlier, happier times are pulled into the now. Imaginary
friends recall their children’s childhoods perfectly and
are almost always proud of how their children grew up.
Imaginary friends remain fiercely loyal and aid their children
in whatever ways they can. Sadly, their existence cannot
extend beyond the forest, and without a person to sustain
them, they soon fade.
The Bairn make good use of their imaginary friends,
who’ve fought long years by their side against the bogeymen.
Shyah’s own, the bird-dog Zonzur (imaginary friend owlbear
fighter 3), is the sworn enemy of Maugdrar, and the two have
fought many vicious battles to stalemate.
9
 RUSTY GEARS
By Jarrod Camiré
“The tale of Rusty Gears is the tale of Charun and Ariadne, of clacking looms
and grinding cogs, of things cast aside and broken, and of how they’re born
anew from junk. It’s a place of masks, and they’re never safe.”
harun stared at the beautiful young woman sitting in the
C middle of his dark vessel. The hot sea breeze was caressing
her, as a lover would have done, playfully blowing the side
of her rose pink dress up to reveal the shapely leg underneath. Her
coppery skin gleamed under the sun like a promise leading to more
intimate treasures. Hard to believe that this nubile mortal had
already been a princess, the lover of the minotaur’s slayer, wife to a
god, sentenced to Hades, and brought back.
Another time, another world, another reality altogether thought
the grim ferryman as he continued to scan the waters ahead of
his old skiff. The Styx was like a current standing apart from the
seemingly infinite ocean around them, an unmovable element that
nothing could influence. The robed figure was rowing indefatigably
with his poll, all his senses buzzing by the very presence of Ariadne,
which placed him in a disturbing state that he hadn’t experienced in
ages.
He had ferried countless millions of souls, rubbed shoulders
Other Locations
with heroes, but rarely was he moved by a mind as brilliant as hers
or, forced to admit, aroused by the sensuous presence of a lady such
as this one.
An incomplete spirit, but not for long.
As on cue, Ariadne looked at him, smiling. Rare were those who’d
smiled at Charun down the eons, but hers was genuine, untainted by
fear or doubt, as if she’d placed her trust in him long ago. Charun
read all this in her mind as if she’d been an open book. Such thoughts
were but a reminiscence of another time, long gone. Soon she would
understand the very connection between them, between her and the
millions of spirits surrounding this terrible craft, those souls adrift
in the wind, invisible to the former princess, but not to him, never to
him. Charun admired Ariadne longingly, intoxicated by her delicate
perfume and supreme femininity both, envious of her innocence
while knowing well that the last vestiges of this false mortality would
soon be stripped from her.
Ariadne must have sensed the ferryman’s uneasiness. Charun’s
conflicting feelings and her desire to return home igniting the
spark required to perceive the surrounding seascape in a new way.
Hundreds if not thousands of threads suddenly materialized all
around them, like colorful ribbons carried along by the gentle wind.
Ariadne laughed merrily and began to scoop the filaments by the
dozens. Many were blood red and a few shined like gold, though the
majority were silver-gray.
Ariadne turned in the ferryman’s direction, excited like a young
girl while exclaiming, “They shall serve later!”
Lost souls saved by the Spinner of Fate. Yes, they’ll serve all right
somehow, sometime.
Charun said nothing and only nodded in agreement, as Ariadne
admired the handfuls of fine strands with a mitigated expression.
10 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
—Arachne
“My own thread isn’t like these, nor is yours.”
Again Charun remained silent but shivered strongly when
Ariadne conjured into view two complex lines representing their
very own destinies beside many more pertaining to countless other
souls. This time the brilliant lattice was completely anchored by the
woman whose blouse had taken on a metallic sheen, and for a very
brief moment, this perfect vision brought elation to Charun. The
tangled fates of so many, restored at last. When Ariadne fingertips
brushed the darkest rope of the ensemble, she knew. Looking at
the rower, she seized the full extent of his desires, understanding
his complexity and dutifulness along with the sense of this strange
journey.
“A mask, I am but a mask... a fragment sent elsewhere to learn
about another world.”
Yes. In a way we all are. Soon you will be complete, however—
whole again.
“This is my fate...”
It is our duty, until the end of all things.
Ariadne acknowledged this inescapable truth just as Charun
tenderly cupped her chin in his callused hand. They shared a brief
regard. Words were now meaningless. The boatman returned at
the stern just as a floating mass that defied imagination appeared,
barring the entire horizon.
“The Plane of Gears,” whispered Ariadne softly.
The vessel passed at once through the plane’s border, as if the
metallic wall had never existed, and Charun adroitly guided the
vessel around moving gears as vast as continents to finally draw
alongside the base of a gigantic shaft-like structure. Ariadne looked
one last time at Charun, exchanging with him a silent farewell. Gears
not visible a moment before materialized and parted soundlessly
to reveal a stairway that Ariadne began to ascend. As she climbed
higher and higher, memories flooded into her, each image taking on
substance. Gears, cogs, engines, looms, and fantastic devices were
appearing all about her to her sheer delight. The long flight of stairs
finally ended and yet another mechanical door parted to reveal her
private sanctuary.
Ariadne took off her shoes and began a light-hearted dance. As
she spun round and round, a myriad of filaments brushed against
her hips, and she felt each and every one of them, knowing about
all these lives, about their dreams and hopes, joys and deceptions,
while gladly accepting her role as Spinner of Fate. As she turned
once more, she briefly caught her reflection in a silvery mirror. The
woman who looked back was wearing a strange mask of moving
gears, and Ariadne felt complete again. With a simple thought, she
willed this mask and countless more to dissolve into nothingness.
Here, she had naught to hide. Ariadne had finally returned home, but
she wondered if, in truth, she had ever left at all.
PLANAR TRAPS, HAZARDS
& AFFLICTIONS
HAZARDS
Aleph
Drifting through the beyond like giant incorporeal dandelion
heads or three-dimensional snowflakes, alephs are wispy nodes of
sparkling light. Every aleph is a mobile conjunction of all existence,
a compression of infinite possibilities, containing every other point
in space and time. Alephs are most common on chaotic planes
and those undergoing upheaval but can be found anywhere. They
typically last 1d6 days.
Magical effects rather than physical objects, alephs shed light as
a torch, are insubstantial and vulnerable only to dispel magic and
similar effects (treat the aleph as a 30th level effect). They typically
occupy a single 5-ft. square and float 1d6 × 5 ft. in a random direction
each round (although they can sometimes remain stationary for
random periods). They ignore terrain and pass through solid
objects.
Objects or creatures entering an aleph find themselves
transported to a random plane (as if by plane shift; creatures bull
rushed or otherwise forced into the area may make a DC 15 Reflex
save to avoid the aleph). Creatures can also pass into it voluntarily
and can attempt to focus on a particular destination but must roll on
the teleportation accuracy chart (see teleport) as if the location was
“viewed once” even if they’re more familiar with it. Creatures that
stay in contact with each other usually travel to the same destination.
Anyone who gazes into an aleph can see everything in the
universe from every angle simultaneously—a mind-blowing
experience that causes 1d4 Wisdom damage/minute. A viewer
gazing into an aleph for at least 1 minute can attempt to scry;
otherwise, there’s only a 5% chance/round of a viewing character
seeing something relevant or recognizable.
Dead Stone
Taken from the Underworld and most commonly encountered
there, somehow the very concept of stone has been killed or drained
from it. Dwarves are said to weep at the very touching of it, for they
feel no kinship or connection to it.
Dead stone is unaffected by magic designed to control normal
stone or earth, such as rock to mud or stone shape.
Liminal Slime
Thought to emerge from Between, liminal slime is a nauseating,
green-brown ichor, punctuated by bubbles that look uncannily like
staring eyes. Physically, it is harmless (although disgusting), but
should a character in its vicinity use astral projection, dimension
door, plane shift, teleport, or similar magic, the slime’s deadly power
is revealed.
Liminal slime causes teleportation effects to go haywire. Any
such magic used within 100 ft. of a patch of liminal slime forces
the teleporting character to roll on the teleport accuracy table (see
teleport) as if the location had only been “viewed once,” regardless
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
of how well known it is. Also, apply the table’s results to plane shift
attempts (which may result in travelers ending up on the wrong
plane), and dimension door overshoots or misses the target by 1d8
squares. Other spells generally have side effects based on the worst-
case scenarios.
Every time it affects a teleportation, a patch of slime expands by
1d10 ft., plus the level (in feet) of the spell used. Liminal slime can be
destroyed by normal means.
Non-Euclidean Angles
It’s possible to find non-Euclidean angles in both Order- and Chaos-
infused planes. One represents impossibly complex folds of space-
time, and the other denies physics entirely. The game effects are
identical.
Angles of objects seem to change when viewed from a different
perspective or when no one is looking at them: concavity become
convexity, angles dance between obtuse and acute, things that are
small and things that are far away are difficult to differentiate (or
Gamemastering Infinity
perhaps objects are both at the same time?), and every time you
count an object’s sides, you get different results.
Terrain containing non-Euclidean angles is a profoundly
unsettling sight, sometimes driving those who look upon it insane.
This functions like a gaze attack, allowing victims to avert their
gaze (looking at their feet or not concentrating too hard on their
environment). Other observers must typically make a DC 15 Will
save every 1d6 minutes or become shaken.
NON-EUCLIDEAN ANGLE, CR 10
XP 9,600
Type magical; Perception DC 20; Disable Device —
Trigger proximity; Reset automatic
Effects A character can avoid stepping into a non-Euclidean angle
with a DC 15 Reflex save. Otherwise, roll on the table below:
1d12 Effect
1 Target is never seen or heard from again, and magic
cannot uncover their fate. Only wish or miracle can
recover the target.
2–3 Target is teleported to a nearby plane.
4–6 Target is teleported to a random location on the same
plane.
7–12 Target is teleported 4d10 × 10 ft. in a random
direction and takes 2d6 damage (possibly more if they
materialize in an object).
13–15 Target walks partly out of existence and becomes
incorporeal for 1d6 rounds
16–20 Target is teleported 1d6 × 5 ft. in a random direction.
A non-Euclidean angle’s effect varies each time it is entered. It affects
11
 non-living objects cast or fired into it as well as living creatures and
some magical effects that enter it (at GM’s discretion).
Tesseracting Terrain
Tesseracting terrain moves its contents in a predictable pattern,
typically every round or minute. A tesseract can connect points
across any distance but, typically, connects points within 400 ft. If
it occurs at a location that’s coterminous or coexistent with another
plane, the tesseract can cross planar boundaries as well (often
changing plane but not physically moving).
Each tesseract consists of a sequence of 4 squares or groups of
coterminous squares. At the end of each period (usually a round), the
contents of each square shifts to the next location in the sequence:
the contents of the first square are teleported (as if by plane shift)
to the second square, the contents of the second square to the third
square, and so on. The contents of the fourth square move back to
the first square.
Creatures partly in an affected square may make a DC 15 Reflex
save to avoid being teleported. Objects partially in the area have a
50% chance of sliding entirely into the area and being teleported and
a 50% of being partially transported, becoming broken or destroyed.
Timeflowers
Golden timeflowers grow only on a site of disruption to the
fabric of the Creation. Where planes have cracked and split, where
mass teleportation has gone awry, where the winds of time spell has
been cast. They feed on time like other flowers feed on sun and rain.
A profusion of timeflowers gives any area the erratic time planar
trait.
Gamemastering Infinity
The pollen of a timeflower allows users to relive an event of their
past. A DC 15 Will save or concentration check allows the user to
experience a memory of their choice. Failure means the user basks in
a random good or bad memory. In either case, the user sleeps for 1d6
hours. Creatures wandering through a field of blooming timeflowers
are subject to the equivalent of a lullaby spell (DC 11).
Crushing a timeflower, even accidentally, releases the pent-up
time within it. The wielder is targeted by haste for 1 round/level or
HD but must make a DC 15 Fort save or be aged 1 year/round under
the effects of haste. Rolling a 1 on this check, the target still ages but
is affected by slow instead.
Hazards of the Ever River
Magic sluices through the great, eternal river of the planes. It’s a rare
stretch of water that does not harbor some power or property related
to its environs. Named after some of its most famous stretches,
according to Midgard lore, here are some sample hazards and
terrains.
ACHERON
The River of Pain is not as terrible as its name suggests. Its waters
are a place of healing, not punishment—of cleansing and purging
the sins of mortals, of soothing the guilt that torments every soul.
Lantern archons swim beneath and dance on top of the surface of the
water, giving it a flickering golden glow.
Heaven’s realms contain many streams and pools of Acheron,
going by many names. Here, newly arrived souls are urged to bathe
in the sparkling waters and let the concerns of their mortal lives be
washed away. For the newly dead, this cessation of care is invaluable.
Living creatures, however, may get more than they bargained for.
12 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
• The water of Acheron is cool and refreshing but never chill. A
draught provides nourishment equivalent to a good meal and
leaves the consuming character feeling rather introspective. It’s
altogether pleasant to consume… too pleasant in fact; the water of
Acheron is like a drug.
Water of Acheron
Type drug (ingestion); Addiction slight, Will DC 16 Price 500 gp
Effects 4 hours; Damage 1d4 Cha +1d4 Wis.
• Bathing in the river for 1 hour grants a sincere character
atonement.
• Characters partially (or more) immersed in the waters become
reluctant to leave and require a DC 13 Will save to perform any
action that isn’t relaxing in the water and contemplating life. Treat
this as a calm emotions spell that also inflicts a −5 penalty to
Perception checks and a −2 penalty to Will Saves, and the effects
persist for 1d10 hours after leaving the water.
GJOLL
A thunderous cacophony accompanies the river as it passes through
and around the realms of Helheim, Valhalla, Niflheim, and other
homes of the northern gods. Foam churns, spray flies, and the sound
is almost deafening (inflicting −10 to Perception checks based on
sound). Those who draw closer see the cause: the white water is
filled with tumbling weapons—axes, daggers, and swords. Most are
chipped and broken, but a few have distinctive fine workmanship—
masterworks and possibly magical blades spinning in the torrent.
The Gjoll seems to function as an afterlife for weapons. At the
GM’s discretion, a character that has lost a highly prized martial
weapon (magical or mundane) that was completely destroyed, has a
5% chance to catch sight of it in their first glance at the raging river. A
DC 30 Perception check is required to keep track of the item’s tumble
through the torrent. Retrieving it is another matter entirely.
• The waters of the Gjoll bestow the ghost touch quality on any
weapon immersed in it. Weapons removed from the torrent retain
this property for 1 day.
• Creatures exposed to the water take 15d6 damage. If the exposure
is brief, a DC 20 Reflex save can be made for half damage.
Incorporeality is no defense.
• Plucking a specific weapon from the River Gjoll requires a DC
30 Sleight of Hand check. Grabbing a random weapon is DC 25.
Dipping a weapon in the waters requires a Strength or Sleight of
Hand check (DC 20). For every point by which the attempt fails,
the character takes 1d6 damage (maximum 15d6), and anything
they were grasping is lost to the flow.
LETHE
Known as the River of Unmindfulness, the Lethe winds its way
through the Underworld. Even a brief touch brings forgetfulness
while a draught of it erases more than mere memory—it wipes a soul
clean. Those who emerge do so untainted by good or evil, order or
chaos; a blank canvas waiting to be rewritten.
The Lethe’s effects vary depending on the degree of exposure.
• Minor Exposure: A splash, being speckled with spray, causes
absent-mindedness and forgetfulness, numbing the bite of painful
memories but inflicting a −2 penalty on all Intelligence-based
skills for 1 day.
• Brief Exposure: Characters must make a DC 30 Will save every
round they are exposed (such as sticking your hand in or drinking
 a potion-sized measure of the Lethe). Failure causes the target to
forget everything that’s happened in the last 24 hours.
• Partial Immersion: Characters that wade in up to the knees for
1 round or get a quick soaking (such as, a wave crashes over
them, causing them to fall in, but they clamber out within 1
round) inflicts the above effects plus 1d3 negative levels (a DC 30
Will save negates this). Caused by loss of memories rather than
negative energy, these negative levels cannot be restored by usual
means (such as restoration), but the victim can make a DC 20 Will
save each day to recover them, as per the normal rules. Memory
net (see Dark Roads & Golden Hells, page 86) also restores lost
memories. Negative levels inflicted by the Lethe cannot kill a
character per se, but if reduced below 1st level, they suffer the
effect below.
• Full Immersion: Being submerged for more than 1 round has
life-changing results. Those affected must make a DC 30 Will
save each round they are exposed. A success subjects them to the
effects above, but on a failure, a target’s entire life is wiped clean.
The victim emerges from the water as a 1 HD newborn with no
memories whatsoever.
It takes 20 weeks minus a character’s Intelligence score to be re-
educated in the basics of life and communication. The wiliest of
devilish lawyers might be able to argue that they are the same
creature as before their transformation, but the process essentially
makes the character a brand-new 1st-level character in all respects.
PHLEGETHON
The boiling, flame-topped waters of Phlegethon light the sky for
miles around with a ruddy, flickering glow. The crackle of flames
mixes with the cries of those caught within it: demons and devils
love submerging sinners in the bloody, boiling water.
• The area is fire-dominant and strongly evil-aligned.
• Phlegethon is effectively a river of alchemical fire. Treat minor
exposure exactly like being hit by alchemical fire. Characters fully
immersed in the river take 10d6 fire damage/round.
STYX
The Waters of Hate are commonly encountered in the Underworld
and the Hells. Evil souls are forcibly and repeatedly drowned within,
harvesting their bitterness and hatred. Its name also arises from the
fact that dead souls gather on the bank to jealously gaze upon the
land of the living.
• The Styx is a strongly evil-aligned locale.
• The river counts as unholy water although it loses this property
if removed from the river for more than 1 day. It also carries the
hatesoak affliction.
• Creatures that break an oath “sworn by the Styx” have a 50%
chance to be subject to a curse. They do not need to be on or near
the waters for this to take effect.
• Anointing the body completely with Styx water wards a creature
against harm from both the living and the dead, granting them the
equivalent of mage armor for 1 day, but this also subjects them to
hatesoak.
• The waters radiate antipathy to all dead and undead creatures
(even mindless ones). Treat as the spell effect (DC 22). Even
sailing over the river requires a check.
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
DISEASES
Dreamcaught
This is a common affliction among those new to the planes, especially
within the Shadow Realm, Ethereal, and Astral.
Type disease, contact; Save Will DC 14
Onset 1 day; Frequency 1/day
Effect 50% chance of experiencing vivid dreams or nightmares
while sleeping (equivalent to the nightmare spell), which manifests
in the waking world as a creature or object summoned by shadow
conjuration; a natural 1 on save produces a phantasmal killer instead;
Cure 3 consecutive saves
Dyscrasia
Dyscrasia is famed as the disease carried by cambium.
Type disease, injury; Save Fortitude DC 21
Onset 1 day; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1d2 Wis damage; Cure 4 consecutive saves
Special If a cambium’s serum is taken by an infected creature, it
counts as an automaticly successful save and restores 1 Wisdom.
If the infected creature loses more than half its original Wisdom
ability score (round down), it is considered dominated (as the
appropriate dominate spell) by any cambium within 30 ft. (Will
DC 23 negates).
Hatesoak
Hatesoak is an affliction caused by exposure to the Styx, when the
waters and their attendant hate worm their way into a character,
Gamemastering Infinity
body and soul. Hatesoak is a curse but functions similarly to a
disease:
Type curse, contact; Save Will DC 12 negates
Onset immediate; Frequency 1/day
Effect target acts in evil manner at next opportunity (as a
suggestion spell); Cure 3 consecutive saves
Protean Aphasia
The Protean language is ever changing, never the same twice and
never predictable. Yet the proteans themselves never seem to have
trouble communicating. Learning it is like attempting to predict the
exact order that the raindrops will strike you while being caught in a
hurricane. And there are consequences.
Protean aphasia is a magical disease that affects only creatures
who speak Protean and the tongues of similarly chaotic creatures.
Victims begin to randomly jumble words from the various languages
they speak, soon being unable to communicate in anything other
Protean.
Type disease, contact (special); Save Will DC 16
Onset 1 day; Frequency 1/day
Effect −4 penalty to all skill checks involving language or
communication
Effect after 2nd failed save; target loses access to all but original
language and reads and writes only Protean
Effect after 3rd failed save; target can communicate only in
Protean; Cure 3 consecutive saves
Protean aphasia only affects creatures who know Protean. Proteans
and similar chaotic outsiders seem immune to its effect although
they can be carriers. Infected characters can pass on the aphasia by
speaking within earshot of others who know Protean—even through
writing. Magic is ineffectual against it. In fact, targeting the victim
13
 with a spell like comprehend languages or tongues exposes the caster
to the disease.
Rust Drake Tetanus
A disease spread by rust dragons, fallen inevitables, and other
denizens of the Rusty Gears (see Dark Roads & Golden Hells, page 62).
Type disease, injury; Save Fortitude DC 19
Onset 1d4 days; Frequency 1/day
Effect 1d3 Con damage and 1d3 Dex damage and target is
paralyzed
Cure 3 consecutive saves
The Starks
A common disease from the Shadow Plane and other locations
where light rarely shines. Fey are immune.
Type disease, contact; Save Fortitude DC 16
Onset 1d3 days; Frequency 1/day
Effect color is leached from target (including clothes and items),
leaving black and white form; 1d4 Str damage and targets taking
3 or more Str damage are glum and cannot benefit from to
morale bonuses but gain a +2 bonus to saves against fear effects;
Cure 2 consecutive saves
DRUGS AND POISONS
Amrit
Amrit, sometimes known as ambrosia, is a nectar-like liquid formed
Gamemastering Infinity
from crystallized belief. It occurs in all planes naturally although in
different ways and different places: in flowers, the tears of condemned
or graced souls, bubbling in natural springs, trapped beneath the
surface like oil. It has many uses—the gods dine upon it, and its
power is used to maintain the magic and majesty of the planes.
“Liquid miracle” is a common name for it.
One dose of amrit provides fallen or risen outsiders with succor—
for a time. It’s as if they were back in the good graces of their former
life, but the “down” is a ferocious assault of doubt and depression. It is
dangerously addictive.
Type drug, ingested; Addiction major, Fortitude DC 20
Price 1,500 gp
Effects (outsiders only) 1d3 hours; +1 morale bonus to attack rolls
and skill checks, +1 alchemical bonus to the DCs of spell-like
abilities
Damage 1d3 Wis and 1d3 Cha damage
Angel’s Tears
Nothing more than the sincere tears of a celestial, weeping at the
sins of the world. If even a few drops pass the lips of an evil outsider,
they’ll quickly become ill.
Type poison, ingested or injury; Save Fortitude DC 15
Price 500 gp
Onset 1d6+1 minutes; Frequency 1/min. for 7 min.
Effect sickened; Secondary Effect nauseated; Cure 3 consecutive
saves
Asphodel Leaves
The tar-like nectar and leathery black leaves of the asphodel flower,
one of the few native to the Underworld, is prized as a drug among the
dead. Chewed or smoked, asphodel has the rare quality of soothing
14 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
the restless undead. Even mindless creatures find its scent pacifying.
Creatures who partake of asphodel relive old memories in a
dream-like state that’s as near to sleep as undead can get. Creatures
reduced to 0 Strength by taking asphodel transform into undead
shadows. Specialist “shadow catchers” prowl asphodel dens to catch
them and take them to a new home on the Shadow.
Type drug, ingested; Addiction moderate, Will DC 20
Price 200 gp
Effects (undead) 1d6 hours; slow as per the spell, −20 penalty to
Perception checks
Effects (living) 1d6 hours; unconcious
Damage 1d3 Wis and 1d3 Str damage (see above)
Blinding Nectar
A glowing golden syrup taken from evanescent night flowers in the
Elflands, blinding nectar produces pleasurable swirls and bursts of
color. The target is blinded but rarely unhappy with their state. It also
makes them docile and easily manipulated. Aftereffects include spots
and flashes in vision, synaesthesia, and visual hallucinations.
Type drug, contact (eyes); Addiction minor, Fortitude DC 13
Price 4,500 gp
Effects 1 hour; blinded and fascinated (Will DC 13 negates
fascinated condition; injury allows new save)
Damage −5 penalty to Perception checks for 24 hours
Dream Spittle
The spittle of a hundun is a prized if highly addictive drug. Artists,
artisans, and philosophers all value this tincture. Easily identified, it
changes color randomly (including indescribable alien colors), and
if stared at long enough, it seems to contain hints of shapes not quite
formed in your mind’s eye.
Type drug, ingested; Addiction major, Fortitude DC 22
Price 600 gp
Effects 1 hour; confused
Effects 8 hours; +1 bonus to initiative and +4 alchemical bonus to
Craft and Intelligence checks
Damage 1d4 Wis and 1d4 Cha damage
Lethe’s Kiss
Lethe’s kiss is a potent poison that removes all memory from a user of
the last 24 hours. Many ne’er-do-wells use it to cover their tracks, but
cunning adventurers, assassins, and plotters carry them in order to
prevent knowledge of their recent deeds falling into the wrong hands
through charm or torture.
Type poison, ingested; Save Will DC 25
Price 750 gp
Onset 1 minute
Effect memory loss of last 24 hours; Cure 1 save
Lethean Ale
Lethe ale is brewed partly from the waters of forgetfulness. Like
a handful of its namesake, it causes absent-mindedness and
forgetfulness, but it also numbs the bite of painful memories. Tavern-
keepers often serve it slyly to troublesome customers since it quiets
them down and prevents trouble.
Type drug, ingested; Addiction minor, Fortitude DC 12
Price 1 gp
Effects 24 hours; −2 penalty to Intelligence-based skills
Damage 1 Int damage
EFFECTS
Abstraction
Visitors who spend an extended time unprotected on the Astral Plane,
Ethereal Plane, or other empty or ephemeral locales, such as the Nine
Stairways, may find their individuality bleeding away, leaving behind
a creature ever more notional or archetypical. First, their appearance
slowly changes to the absolute average for their race. Then their
memories and personalities become “averaged” until they think and
act in entirely stereotypical ways. In extreme cases, victims find their
physical form dissipating entirely becoming the mere idea of their
former self—or perhaps melding with their race’s template on the Plane
of Archetypes.
Abstraction
Type planar effect; Save Will DC 15
Onset 1 week; Frequency 1/day
Effect abilities higher than a target’s racial average decrease by 1,
and abilities lower than a target’s racial average increase by 1; once
abilities equal 11 (plus or minus racial modifiers), target gains 1
permanent negative level (targets reduced to 0 disappear forever);
Cure 3 consecutive saves
Creatures native to the Astral Plane or Ethereal Plane are immune
although most inhabitants tend to be abstracted to one degree or
another anyway.
Alternate Personality Disorder
This disorder can strike victims of teleportation mishaps (such as from
teleport and plane shift spells) and creatures who enter and emerge
from non-Euclidean space. Some have suggested that this isn’t a mental
disorder but that victims have actually exchanged consciousness with
another version of themselves in a parallel reality.
Alternate Personality Disorder
Type insanity; Save Will DC 19
Onset immediate
Effect −1d6 penalty on skill checks; target believes self not native to
this universe; 5% chance that any Knowledge check is erroneous
Compulsive Ukase
The overwhelming order to be found on Lawful planes seeps into the
psyche, rendering targets easily commanded and fervent devotees of
law.
Compulsive Ukase
Type planar effect; Save Will DC 15
Onset 1 week; Frequency 1/day
Effect −6 penalty to Will saves against command and similar magic;
unable to knowingly break law; gains ability to detect chaos 3/day
Fortune’s Warp
A side effect of time in highly chaotic planes, the victim’s luck vacillates
wildly between very lucky and very, very unlucky.
Fortune’s Warp
Type planar effect; Save Will DC 15
Onset immediate; Frequency 1/day
Effect the next time target rolls 1 on a d20 roll, count as natural 20;
after that, the next time rolls 20 on a d20 roll, count as natural 1;
and so on
Beyond the effect on actual dice rolls, the victim experiences an
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
oscillating knack for being either in the right place at the right time or
the very wrong one. One day, the character is finding diamond rings
dropped in the street, and the next, it’s scorpions in the boots.
Heaven’s Dolor
Heaven is like a drug, an intoxicating mix of beauty and purity—the
best of all possible worlds. It is amongst the most beautiful places in
the multiverse, awe inspiring and often indescribable to those who
have glimpsed its profoundly simple yet infinitely elegant grandeur.
Mortals unused to this majesty often find its colors, scents, and
sounds to be an overwhelming, hyper-stimulating experience that
makes other realms pale in comparison. When they return to other
realms, they find worlds that seem drab, gloomy, harsh, ragged edged,
devoid of Heaven’s glory, and filled with wickedness and filth. For
many people, such a world is more than they can bear.
Type insanity; Save Will DC 16
Onset 1 day
Effect −4 penalty to all Wisdom- and Charisma-based skill checks;
target is withdrawn and becomes shaken in presence of filth,
disease, evil, suffering, and so on
The effects disappear if the target returns to Heaven for 1 hour or more
or is subject to a benevolent spell-like ability from a celestial. Sufferers
find themselves drawn to portals or good-aligned outsiders, desperate
for a “fix” of heavenly experience. Many sell all their possessions or
go to extreme lengths to gain another glimpse of Heaven’s perfection.
A variant of this dolor also affects visitors to the Elflands.
Temporal Sheer
Gamemastering Infinity
Temporal sheer is a danger for those who travel between planes with
different time traits, most famously when returning from the Elflands
to Midgard. Victims find themselves immediately ageing or growing
younger as their body adapts to its “proper” age by the rules of the
destination plane.
The sheering occurs when the target first touches the ground in
the destination plane. It can be avoided indefinitely by not touching
the ground—by means magical or mundane—such as by flying or
riding an animal.
Temporal sheer
Type planar effect; Save Fortitude DC 15
Onset immediate
Effect target loses any age gained while on previous plane; target
ages (or grows young) by the amount of time that has passed on
the destination plane; target is exhausted (Fort DC 25 reduces to
fatigued)
Xaosanoia
Spending time on highly chaotic planes isn’t a healthy experience
for the mortal mind. Characters suffering from xaosanoia become
extremely jumpy and expect the world to abruptly change about them.
In their minds, cause and effect no longer necessarily follow each other.
You can develop xaosanoia like any other insanity but also by
rolling a 1 on any save against a confusion effect while on a highly
morphic plane.
Xaosanoia
Type Insanity; Save Will DC 15
Onset 1d8 days
Effect +1 bonus to Initiative, −4 penalty on Reflex saves and
Wisdom-based skill checks
15
 TRAPS
Infinite Pit
An infinite pit works like a normal pit trap and can be operated by
any number of magical or mechanical mechanisms. However, the pit
literally has no bottom: a falling character never takes damage from
the fall—they merely fall away from their companions at a rate of 175
ft./ round—but may actually fall so long that they starve to death.
(The opportunity exists to recover the victim by magic, however).
Infinite Pit Trap, CR 8
Type mechanical; Perception DC 20; Disable Device DC 20
Trigger proximity; Reset none
Effect bottomless pit; DC 20 Reflex avoids; multiple targets (all
targets in a 10-ft.-sqare area); attempts to grab sides of pit result
in 5d6 damage and require a DC 35 Athletics check in order to
grab hold
MAGIC ITEMS
CURSED ITEMS
Dead Man’s Food
Gray cheese, dry bread, and bitter black wine. Tasteless honey as
clear as liquid glass. The food of the Underworld comes in many
Gamemastering Infinity
forms—none too palatable for the living, but edible. Though it will
sustain a character, a meal of dead man’s food harms the living and
heals undead as if they’d been recipients of inflict minor wounds
spell. If eaten in the Underworld, the living may also be subject to
a curse.
The law of the Underworld states that those who eat the food
of the dead have stolen from Death’s domain and may not leave
until their debt is paid. Characters who partake of native food or
asphodel leaves while in the underworld are judged to have broken
this ancient law.
Type curse, ingestion; Save Will DC 15 avoids, Fortitude DC 20
negates
Onset immediate; Frequency when leaving Underworld
Effect target may not leave Underworld by means of spell or
planar road; Cure break enchantment, free the soul; the blessing
of a powerful outsider native to the Underworld or a god with
the Death domain
WEAPONS AND ARMOR
Shield Special Ability: Fractal
The fractal shield is formed of interwoven patterns made up of
smaller versions of the whole that seem to draw in the eye in an
endless spiral of infinite variation. Upon command of the wielder,
3/day, the pattern moves in such a way that algoriths, axiomites,
hundun, proteans, and similar outsiders of lawful neutral or chaotic
neutral alignment within 30 ft. that see the shield must make a DC
14 Will save or be fascinated for 1d4 rounds.
Moderate evocation; CL 7th; Price +1 bonus.
16 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds
Weapon Special Ability: Impossible
When swung, this weapon is surrounded by ghostly versions of
itself, playing out alternative outcomes to every cut and thrust.
Afterimages and unrealized possibilities surround it, allowing you
to strike with not one solid blow but many possible ones. You may
activate or deactivate the properties of this weapon as a swift action.
When rolling to hit, you roll twice and may select either result.
If you hit however, damage is halved as some of the damage done
occurs in other realities. Attempts to sunder or disarm the weapon
while it is active have a 20% miss chance as do your own attempts to
sunder or disarm with it.
Moderate conjuration; CL 6th; Craft Arms and Armor, impossible
weapon; Price +1 bonus.
WONDROUS ITEMS
Angel Face
Aura transmutation (polymorph); CL 5th
Slot head; Price 30,000 gp; Weight —
Description
They say that for bad liars, falsehoods are written all over their faces.
For angels, that’s sometimes literally true.
An angel face is created when a lawful good outsider engages
in prolonged deception and subterfuge. If they wear a mortal visage
for too long—especially if they’re forced into dishonesty and guile—
their celestial spark rebels, pushing the lie onto its outer flesh. In
time, the metaphorical mask forms a literal one: a second skin over
the angel’s own face. When they return to the higher realms, a wise
celestial pulls off their mask—though few can bring themselves to
destroy it outright. Scattered throughout the Heavens in the lonely
caves and isolated towers, some ancient celestials store hundreds of
their former faces, which flutter like lost moths in search of home.
An angel face masks both flesh and soul. When donned, its
wielder assumes the form and features of a Small or Medium
humanoid, which might be an existing creature or a persona the
angel made up. You detect as that creature. Treat this as alter self.
The wearer’s true race and alignment is also disguised, as if by
misdirection.
Uncontained angel faces flutter mindlessly, like butterflies (treat
as Tiny animated objects with a clumsy fly speed). If a creature within
30 ft. attempts to lie or misrepresent itself, the angel face will attempt
to attach itself to their face. Removing an unwanted face requires
a Will save (DC same as spell like abilities of the creature it came
from). This save can be attempted 1/day.
Construction
Not applicable. Angel faces aren’t made, except by the deception of
celestials.
Bezoar
Aura varies (good, necromancy); CL varies
Slot hand; Price 17,900 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Like angel faces, bezoars grow from the bodies of outsiders who stray
from their natural state. In this case, they form like cysts in the bellies
of fiends who stray from wickedness with acts of restraint, honor,
love, or similar emotions.
 Each bezoar is unique to the fiend that spawned it: they might
manifest as a sticky mass of hair, a hunk of stone, or a ball of spongy
spiked flesh. Bezoars typically fill the palm of a human hand—but
there are exceptions. Bezoars radiate good and magic to a degree
based on the HD of the creature they come from. (The creature’s HD
is also the CL of the bezoar, if necessary.)
Just looking at a bezoar makes most evil outsiders uneasy,
granting a +2 item bonus to Intimidate checks against them. If
used in conjunction with casting a spell with the good descriptor,
the result is empowered (as per the metamagic feat), and if the spell
affects an evil outsider, it also lowers the target’s SR by 5.
Against the actual outsider from which it was harvested, these
effects double (+4 to Intimidate checks, lowers SR by 10, and spells
are maximised), and it can be used as a substitute to knowing the
creature’s name for magic like planar binding. Squeezing or damaging
a bezoar makes the fiend it comes from sickened for 1 round unless
they make a DC 25 Fortitude save. There is no maximum range for
this effect; even planar boundaries are no hindrance to inflicting it.
Destroying the bezoar makes the creature automatically sickened for
1 round for every HD it possesses.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, augury; Cost 2,700 gp
Cloak of Fallen Feathers
Aura strong abjuration [evil]; CL 15th
Slot shoulders; Price 136,250 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Woven from the feathers that dropped from the wings of a falling
celestial, this cloak appears perpetually scorched and bloody. It
provides four powers to its wearer:
• The cloak offers complete protection from spells and devices that
would gather information about its wearer through divination
magic, up to and including miracle and wish.
• The cloak contains 10 flight feathers, which can be plucked and
touched to a creature in order to cast confutation on them. Only
a creature wearing the cloak can identify which feathers these
are.

Construction • The cloak’s wearer can fall any distance unharmed.

Bezoars cannot be made although they can be harvested. • The cloak’s final power consumes it utterly when used: the
wearer may plane shift to Hell (arriving in a random realm or
layer). The cloak burns away to nothing when used up.
Bottled Memory
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd Construction
Slot none; Price 1,400 gp (recreational), 1,650 gp (informative), Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, featherfall, mind blank, plane
2,000 gp (useful); Weight — shift; Cost 68,125 gp

Gamemastering Infinity
Description
Fished from the Lethe or stolen by memory nets, bottled memories
can contain just about anything: a first kiss, a moment of triumph,
the giddy glee of getting away with murder. The vintage (and cost) of
a memory depends entirely on its contents—rare memories or those
useful in blackmail or espionage are often worth many times the base
value.
Recreational memories are pleasant, diverting, or distinctive
events that are relatively common (1,400 gp market value).
Informative memories provide lots of detail of events unlikely to be
experienced by the majority of people—murder, a coronation, and
so on—or feature hard to reach places like the palaces of archangels
(1,650 gp market value). Useful memories provide significantly
useful information—such as a password, the combination to a safe,
or how to disarm a specific trap (at least 2,400 gp market value,
frequently more).

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, memory net or a memory of
creator’s own; Cost half market value

Chroniker
Aura faint divination; CL 5th
Slot head; Price 5,400 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
Chronikers are simple devices that resemble oversized pocketwatches.
A chroniker perfectly tracks time on two planes. It has a normal
clock face but two sets of hands. To set the time to a particular plane,
the user merely has to set the hands to the current time while on
that plane.

A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement 17

 Dead Man’s Eyes Hundun Blood
Aura faint necromancy (shadow); CL 5th Aura strong evocation; CL 14th
Slot head; Price 1,650 gp; Weight — Slot none; Price 4,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Description
Dead man’s eyes are said to be created whenever Saint Charon
handles an offering to the dead. They’re named after the coins placed
over the eyes of corpses as an offering. They’re slowly spreading
throughout Creation as a macabre form of information.
Placing the coins over your own eyes allows you to experience
the last few moments (30 seconds or so) of a dead soul’s life, as seen
through their eyes.
Charon’s power lingers in the coins another way: a dead or
undead creatures who freely accepts a gift or payment of dead man’s
eyes for some service is bound to honor their agreement by a geas/
quest.
Construction
Requirements Dead man’s eyes are created by St. Charon or
powerful aeons.
Description
A powerful catalyst, hundun blood enhances creative magic of all
kinds. If mixed into a potion (a full round action requiring a DC 10
Craft (alchemy) check), it increases all the potions variable effects
by 50%. It has a similar power when drunk by spontaneous casters:
any spells they cast in the next round are empowered, as per the
metamagic feat without any increase in level.
Hundun blood may also have other creative effects, such as
ensuring fertility, causing enhanced growth in animals and plants,
and automatically stabilizing a dying character if rubbed into their
wounds. The GM should arbitrate the results of any experimentation.
Construction
A fresh, intact hundun corpse provides enough blood for 1 vial/HD,
which can be consumed raw if fresh enough (within 2d10 minutes),
provided the user can stomach it (Fort DC 15).

Egg of Worlds Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, hundun blood; Cost 2,250 gp
Aura strong evocation; CL 16th
Slot —; Price 40,000 gp; Weight 1 lb. Liquid Miracle
Aura faint transmutation; CL 3rd
Description
Slot none; Price 4,000 gp; Weight —
Torn from the heart of a hundun, an egg of worlds is creative potential
incarnate. It can create just about anything: ideas, philosophies and Description
Gamemastering Infinity

religions, magical items, “mundane” things (like palaces or towering
trees), demiplanes, creatures of the reincarnated dead. Any act of
creation can be invoked by breaking the egg and unleashing its raw
creation (equivalent to a wish), but the results are not always exactly
to the user’s desires.
Construction
Requirements Eggs of worlds are found in the hearts of hundun.
Liquid miracle is made from distilled amrit (see DRUGS AND
POISONS). It fills the user with a sense of connection to the
divine. One dose of liquid miracle refreshes one divine spell slot or
previously cast divine spell of 1st–2nd level of the user’s choice. The
spell or slot must be used within 1 round or it becomes useless. If

Faerie Food
Aura faint conjuration and necromancy; CL 5th
Slot —; Price 938 gp; Weight —

Description
Not every edible thing in the Elflands is faerie food, but it’s easy
to produce and a common and well-known trick among the fey.
Fey food typically has a tantalizing smell and mouth-watering
appearance, and it tastes as good as it looks. Many victims believe
it’s the best food they’ve ever tasted, but the effects are usually far
from pleasant.
Faerie food comes in a variety of styles, and a single creation
typically has enough food to feed up to 15 people. Even a single bite
afflicts the eater with a curse, which typically manifests as charm,
geas/quest (usually to serve the fey who provided the feast), deep
slumber or baleful polymorph.

Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, bestow curse, create food,
creator must be fey; Cost 469gp

18 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds

taken by a non-divine caster, the potion instead invests them with a
faith that grants them the benefits of a bless spell.
Although not addictive like pure amrit, liquid miracle has the
dangerous side effect of degrading a user’s faith. The next time their
spell slots refresh naturally, for each dose taken, the user must make
a DC 15 Wisdom check or one of their 1st–2nd level slots becomes
unavailable for 1 day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, distilled amrit; Cost 2,000 gp
Soul Lamp
Aura strong necromancy; CL 15th
Slot —; Price 324,000 gp; Weight 2 lb.
Description
These lamps are created to transport or imprison souls. Designs both
beautiful and grotesque can be found depending on who created
them. Highly prized among soul smugglers, most outsiders firmly
believe these items should be kept from the hands of mortals.
Speaking the command word draws the nearby spirit or soul into
the lamp, unless it succeeds at a DC 22 Will Save. When occupied,
the lamp glows with pale light and a ghostly image of the incumbent’s
face floats within the glass. The lamp does not affect souls housed
in living bodies, but it can draw in outsiders (making their bodies
disappear), dead souls such as petitioners, and incorporeal undead.
The soul can be freed by the wielder at any time, and it is also released
if the lamp is destroyed.
The lamp’s wielder may question the spirit as per speak with
dead as often as desired. The wielder may also command the spirit
to use one of its spells or spell-like abilities (if they are known to
the wielder). A total of 9 levels of spell or spell-like ability may be
invoked each day.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, speak with dead, trap the soul;
Cost 162,000 gp
Tenebrous Gloves
Aura moderate illusion (shadow); CL 9th
Slot hand; Price 6,000 gp; Weight —
Description
Originally created by the scaithesidhé to allow their shadow servants
to interact with material objects, these gloves are also prized by
ghosts and similar undead. They allow an incorporeal creature to
handle physical objects as if by mage hand. Corporeal creatures who
don the gloves may touch, grapple, or punch incorporeal creatures,
as if they were wielding a ghost touch weapon.
Construction
Requirements Craft Wondrous Item, mage hand, shadow walk; Cost
3,000 gp
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
SAMPLE REMNANT PEARLS
The Pearl of Jale
Jale is a color no longer found in the mortal world, and it’s
exceptionally rare elsewhere. It’s been described as somewhat
like olive without any trace of green, but also “damply
amphibian” and it’s said to invoke feelings of grief and loss.
The pearl is, of course, jale in color.
• Grief-Aligned: Living creatures in the area suffer a −1
morale penalty to all rolls. This is a mind-affecting effect.
• Jale Terrain: All terrain features become jale in color.
Creatures not wearing jale colored clothing stand out,
suffering a −4 penalty to Stealth checks.
• Changed Magic: All spells cast manifest in shades of jale.
Wielders of the Pearl of Jale can counterspell any prismatic
spell (the light becomes jale and harmless except for a slight
feeling of loss) and may invoke dancing lights, light, or
daylight—all of which are tinted jale.
The Pearl of Urt
Urt is the place left over, the forgotten remainder, the loose
strand of thread, or the one cog that’s never used. Every time
something is created, from a wooden spoon to a planet, it
leaves a residue or a few scraps that no one ever sees. These
form the Plane of Urt.
The holder of the Pearl of Urt can invoke the following planar
Gamemastering Infinity
traits:
• Mildly Neutral aligned
• Highly Morphic: As a remainder of Creation, Urt is full of
potential.
• Impeded Magic: Urt is almost entirely empty of elemental
magic: spells with the air, earth, fire, or water descriptors
are impeded.
Urt’s wielder can invoke the following powers: major creation,
minor creation. It can also be used as a rod of metamagic to
extend a spell (using up a number of spell levels equal to the
spell cast).
19
6 Bestiary

NEW TEMPLATES

IMAGINARY FRIEND (CR +2) SHE (CR +2)

Natives of Mora, imaginary friends are quite real. “She” is an acquired template that can be applied to any female
“Imaginary friend” is an acquired template that can be applied creature. A she’s quick and rebuild rules are the same.
to any humanoid or monstrous humanoid creature. An imaginary
Rebuild Rules: Alignment NE; Type outsider (augmented); Senses
friend’s quick and rebuild rules are the same.
gains darkvision 60 ft.; AC increase natural armor by +2; Defensive
Rebuild Rules: Alignment any good; Type fey (augmented); Senses: Abilities gains DR 10/magic and silver, resistance cold 10 and fire
low-light vision; AC increase natural armor by +2; Defensive 10, fast healing 4; Weaknesses panicked within 30 ft. of laughing
Abilities gains DR 10/magic or cold iron, resistance cold 10 and child (Will DC 25 reduces to shaken) for duration plus 1d4 rounds,
electricity 10; Ability Scores +2 Dex, Int, and Wis, +4 Cha; Skills unable to leave Mora; Special Attacks aura of fear (cause fear,
+4 racial bonus to Acrobatics, Bluff, Fly, Perception, Sense Motive, 10 ft., CL 13th); Spell-Like Abilities dread powers 5/day + Cha
and Stealth; Feats gains Acrobatic, Alertness, Deceitful, Dodge, modifier (can cast (CL 13th) any combination of following: baleful
Improved Initiative, Mobility, Persuasive, and Stealthy as bonus feats; polymorph, bestow curse, children of the night (as per the vampire
Special Abilities see below; Languages gains Sylvan and Celestial. ability), cloudkill, dominate, polymorph any object); Ability Scores
+2 Str and Dex, +4 Con, Int, and Cha, −2 Wis; Skills gains +4 racial
SPECIAL ABILITIES bonus to Bluff, Perception, Sense Motive, and Stealth checks; Feats
gains Alertness, Diehard, Dodge, Improved Initiative, Iron Will,
Always with You (Su)—All imaginary friends have a permanent and Lightning Reflexes as bonus feats.
telepathic bond to their friend, and they both know each other’s
exact location while within the Forest of Dead Dreams.
Long Step (Su)—Imaginary friends can teleport up to 10 ft./HD as
a move action. They may do this 5 times/day plus their Charisma
modifier.
Tea Party (Sp)—Imaginary friends can conjure a tea party, 2/day.
This a magical effect similar to heroes’ feast, save that it only takes
5 minutes, casts remove curse, and heals hp instead of granting
temporary hp. (CL equals the imaginary friend’s total HD.)
Vanish (Su)—As a swift action 5/day, an imaginary friend may
vanish for 1 round as if it were invisible.

20 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds

 NPCs
Feats Athletic, Combat Reflexes, Fleet, Improved Initiative,
ARACHNE Master Craftsman, Skill Focus (Profession (weaver)), Weapon
This strange creature looks like a beautiful human woman with the Finesse
legs of a giant spider, emerging from her back. But there are only six Skills Appraise +18, Climb +19, Diplomacy +19, Heal +15,
such legs instead of eight.
Knowledge (planes) +18, Perception +15, Profession
Proud and terrible in her wrath, Arachne’s quixotic quest is to replace (weaver) +36, Stealth +23, Survival +19, Swim +14; Racial
Ariadne as weaver of fate. Despite her status, she carries herself as an Modifiers +4 Climb, +4 Survival
exiled empress: a volatile mix of cunning, courtesy, and rage. She’s a Languages Celestial, Common, Elven, Sylvan
dangerous but powerful ally in the Loom or Rusty Gears.
Combat Gear +2 dagger, 10 daggers
Other Gear artisan’s masterwork tools, bag of holding (type I),
ARACHNE, CR 12
jewelry and many square yards of silk worth a total of 5,500
XP 19,200
gp
Female expert 11
SPECIAL ABILITIES
CG Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +12; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Nimble Fingers and Mind (Ex) Arachne’s dexterity is exceptional,
and despite her transformation, she has retained this gift from the
Perception +15
goddess. Arachne’s talent is such that she adds both her Dexterity
DEFENSE
AC 19, touch 18, flat-footed 11 (+8 Dex, +1 natural)
hp 60 (11d8+1d10)
Fort +4, Ref +15, Will +8
OFFENSE
Speed 35 ft., climb 35 ft.
Melee +2 dagger +22/+17 (1d4+2/19–20/x2)
Ranged dagger +20/+15 (1d4/19–20/x2)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 6th)

Bestiary
Constant—deathwatch
At Will—mending, make whole
3/day—web
TACTICS
Before Combat Arachne isn’t a strong
tactician and rarely comes up with a plan
before the hostilities begin. She’d rather
seduce someone instead of fighting
them.
During Combat Arachne prefers to keep
some distance between her and her
enemies and tries to impede assailants
with web. She throws daggers at those
who are caught, hoping to discourage
them with her deadly precision.
Morale Arachne is a survivor that prefers
to flee whenever possible although she
never lets down a true friend. Surrender is
a perfectly reasonable option if her captors
are creatures of honor.
STATISTICS
Str 10, Dex 27, Con 10, Int 17, Wis 10, Cha 18
Base Atk +12 CMB +12 CMD 30 (42 vs. trip)

A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement 21

 and Intelligence bonuses to the following skills:
Craft (cloth), Craft (clothing), and Profession
(weaver).
Still Human (Ex) Arachne has retained most
of her humanity despite the transformation she
has endured and thus kept her human racial
traits.
BACKGROUND
Arachne is a vain mortal that has defied the
goddess Ariadne and paid the price for her
insolence. Transformed into a half-human,
half-arachnid monstrosity, it’s a lesson that
Arachne has barely registered, regardless of
her a long imprisonment in the Loom and
subsequent exile in Rusty Gears.
Motivation & Goals
The overly arrogant Arachne still wants to prove to
Ariadne that she’s the best weaver that’s ever existed,
no matter the consequences. In an effort to gather
belief and support, she frequently takes herself and her
“court” to other planes in search of allies.
Schemes & Plots
Arachne is currently hiding in the Spinning Wheels
Quarter where she tries to get an audience with Berthia of
Swabia, one of the most important figures of the Plane of
Gears and probably the oldest spinning hag alive. Arachne
hopes to learn secrets about her art and also to discover
everything she can about Ariadne herself, sincerely hoping
that this gambit will help her to finally convince the Spinner
of Fate of her absolute talent.
Bestiary

CICERONE THE
UPFALLEN
“Here I am, poor Cicerone the Upfallen. Neither angel nor devil,
nor anything between. By careful balance, I am my own creation. I
take nothing from nobody, I owe allegiance to no one, and my soul—if
I have one—is in no god’s grasp. Can you say the same?”
You might mistake him for an astral deva at first glance but not for
long. There are tiny horns budding from his brow, just beneath the
halo, and a sinuous tail swishes behind. The wings still have their
glorious white feathers however, even if the air around him no
longer shimmers with purity and light. DEFENSE
He’ll smile and assure that he’s no devil but never claims to be AC 27, touch 15, flat-footed 23 (+4 Dex, +15 natural [+2
virtuous or your friend. deflection against chaos, evil, good, and lawful creatures])
Hp 234 (15d10+6d8+120)
Cicerone the Upfallen, CR 19
Fort +18, Ref +18, Will +16; +4 against poison, +2 resistance
Fallen Astral Deva, Bard 6
against chaos, evil, good, and law
XP 38,400
Defensive Abilities uncanny dodge; DR 10/evil; Immune acid,
N Medium outsider (extraplanar)
cold, petrification; Resist electricity 10, fire 10; SR 25
Init +8; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception
OFFENSE
+26
Aura aura of balance Speed 50 ft., fly 100 ft. (good)
Melee +2 disrupting warhammer +30/+25/+20 (1d8+14/×3
plus stun) or slam +27 (1d8+12)

22 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds

Bard Spells Known (CL 6th)
2nd (5/day)—blistering invective (DC 18), blood biography (DC
19), eagle’s splendor, suggestion
1st (6/day)—adoration, anticipate peril, beguiling gift (DC 18),
charm person (DC 18), delusional pride (DC 18)
0—dancing lights, detect magic, lullaby (DC 16), mage hand,
prestidigitation, unwitting ally (DC 16)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 13th)
At Will—continual flame, detect chaos, detect evil, detect
good, detect law, dictum (DC 23), discern lies (DC 20), dispel
good, dispel magic, holy word (DC 23), invisibility (self only),
plane shift (DC 23), remove curse, remove disease, remove
fear, unholy word (DC 23), wave of chaos (DC 23)
7/day—cure or cause light wounds, see invisibility
1/day—banishment (DC 22), heal or harm (DC 22)
TACTICS
Before Combat Cicerone prefers talk to violence, and he
engages in wiles and bluff, charm and enthrallment, rather
than physical violence.
During Combat Cicerone prefers to inspire others to do his
fighting for him. He rarely kills (or saves people) because of
the possible repercussions to his alignment.
Morale Cicerone fights only when absolutely necessary and
prefers to evade combat as quickly as possible, either by
parleying or simply flying away or using plane shift.
STATISTICS
Str 26, Dex 19, Con 21, Int 18, Wis 18, Cha 23
Base Atk +19; CMB +27; CMD 41
Feats Alertness, Cleave, Great Fortitude, Improved Initiative,
Iron Will, Power Attack, Toughness, Weapon Focus
(warhammer); Patronage Feats Aeon Trained, Balancer,
Prehensile Tail
Skills Acrobatics +22, Diplomacy +24, Fly +26, Intimidate
+24, Knowledge (planes) +31, Knowledge (religion) +28,
Perception +26, Perform (Singing) +29, Profession (gambler)
+22, Sense Motive +32, Spellcraft +13, Stealth +28, Use
Magic Device +19
Languages Celestial, Draconic, Infernal; truespeech
SQ bardic abilities, change shape (alter self)
Combat Gear +2 disrupting warhammer, 1d6 other random
magic items
Other Gear fine clothes and jewelry; 1d10 hangers on
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Aura of Balance (Su) Cicerone’s rejection of extreme alignments
generates an aura that impedes the attacks of chaotic, evil, good,
and lawful creatures. It functions as a magic circle against chaos,
evil, good, and law, providing a +2 deflection bonus to AC and a
+2 resistance bonus on saving throws to anyone within 20 ft.
Stun (Su) If Cicerone strikes an opponent twice in 1 round with his
warhammer, that creature must succeed on a DC 25 Fortitude save
or be stunned for 1d6 rounds. The save DC is Strength-based.
BACKGROUND
Once an astral deva, Cicerone fell countless centuries ago, lured away
from Heaven’s grace by excitement and new experiences, a gambler’s
love of danger, and growing desires that there was more to the
A Dark Roads & Golden Hells Supplement
multiverse than fighting the good fight. He didn’t fall as far as Hell
(which he still holds in contempt) but became a free agent, beholden
to none. A rogue in the truest sense of the word.
Motivation & Plots
Cicerone is above all a seeker of experience. New thrills, dangers,
treasures, and rewards. His Heaven-given talents allow him to
prosper as a performer, but his nature drives him to keep moving
on. His pride, and perhaps a trace of his former self, demands he act
as sage or guide for those seeking the strange and unusual. He makes
a fine ally, but companions should never forget that he’s tallying
score, weighing good deeds against evil, order against chaos, and
eventually he has to balance the books.
Schemes & Plots
Cicerone still revels in travel and planar adventures. Now, however,
he travels only where the mood takes him, helping and hindering
in equal measure. Planning is certainly not his strong point—he
usually becomes involved in others’ plots out of chance circumstance
or boredom. He is a creature of his own creation and carefully
maintains a personal balance between law and chaos, good and evil.
He has come to champion neutrality, and the aeons favor him for
their unfathomable reasons. In honor of his commitment, they allow
him access to their timeless repository of wisdom but, in exchange,
send him images that must be acted upon for the greater good of the
eternal balance.
LADY LILIAM
A stygian-haired beauty, clad in figure-hugging garments made
from the supple hide of a young black dragon.
Bestiary
She looks like a fallen angel or mortal seductress, but she’s an
instrument of pure vengeance, available for hire to those dead who
were wronged during their lifetimes. She follows the code of vendetta
with absolute devotion. She does not offer justice, and there’s no line
she will not cross. She never stops once vengeance is underway.
Lady Liliam, the Black Avenger, CR 14
XP 38,400
Erinyes rogue 5
LE Medium outsider (devil, evil, extraplanar, lawful)
Init +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., see in darkness, true seeing,
Perception +21
DEFENSE
AC 24, touch 18, flat-footed 16 (+7 Dex, +1 dodge, +6 natural)
Hp 145 (9d10+5d8+70)
Fort +12, Ref +17, Will +8
DR 5/good Immune fire, poison
Resist acid 10, cold 10; SR 19
OFFENSE
Speed 30 ft., fly 50 ft. (good)
Melee +2 longsword +16/+11 (1d8+9/19-20)
Ranged +2 composite longbow (oathbow) +16/+16/+11
(1d8+7/x3) or +19 against a sworn enemy*) or rope +18
touch (entangle)
23
 (*see oathbow, Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook) functions only for the erinyes who made it and no other. The save
Special Attacks sneak attack +3d6 DC is Dexterity-based.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 12th) Manacles’ Mistresses’ Pupil (Ex) Lady Liliam has spent an
Constant—true seeing undetermined period of time inside The Veil of Chains—a one-
At Will—fear (single target, DC 19), greater teleport (self plus of-a-kind brothel located on the Plane of Gears—in order to learn
50 lb. of objects only), minor image (DC 17), unholy blight how to escape from all kind of restraints. This has provided her
(DC 19) with a +4 circumstance bonus on Escape Artist checks and a +2
circumstance bonus solely on her ranged touch attack using her
1/day—summon (level 3, 2 bearded devils, 50%)
rope.
TACTICS
Before Combat Lady Liliam tries to find a secluded spot to
BACKGROUND
prepare her attack, then hides on a higher position and
Some souls that reach the abode of the dead drag with them vows of
awaits her prey although not for long.
revenge that transcend even life itself. These vindictive essences seek
During Combat The erinyes doesn’t give up easily. If pressed,
out ways to accomplish their great or petty vengeances.
she summons bearded devils. She fights with no regard for Because they generally can’t leave the Underworld,
honor and fair play. however, they need an agent who can. Lady
Morale Lady Liliam has known many forms of Liliam represents the perfect surrogate, an
imprisonment and servitude, and she doesn’t want to erinyes with a troubling eagerness to accept
experience more. She’ll die before being captured, but such deeds.
she backs off from a fight if she can escape to begin
the hunt again. Motivation & Goals
STATISTICS Many believe that the Black
Avenger’s sole motivation to
Str 20, Dex 25, Con 21, Int 15, Wis 18, Cha 20
dole out all these retributions
Base Atk +12 CMB +17 CMD 34 is that she was once denied
Feats Combat Reflexes, DodgeB, Far Shot, such satisfaction herself
Manyshot, MobilityB, Point-Blank Shot, Precise and that she cannot suffer
Shot, Rapid Shot, Shot on the Run, Skill Focus to see others deprived of its
(Escape Artist) bittersweet pleasure. While this
Skills Acrobatics +24, Bluff +22, Diplomacy rumor isn’t far from the truth, the
+19, Escape Artist +28, Fly +25, Intimidate matter is more complex since her
+22, Knowledge (planes) +13, Knowledge voluntarily incarceration within
(religion) +8, Perception +21, Sense the walls of the Veil of Chains.
Kytons known as the Manacles’
Motive +15, Stealth +21
Bestiary

Mistresses have rekindled in

Languages Celestial, Common, Draconic,
Liliam an emotional state that
Infernal, telepathy 100 ft. she believed she had utterly
SQ evasion, fast stealth (rogue lost. This long period of
talent), resiliency (rogue talent), imprisonment has awakened
trap sense +1, trapfinding, uncanny in this devil a desire for
dodge freedom and free will and
Combat Gear +2 longsword, a renewed appreciation for
oathbow (30 arrows, 2 screaming hedonism.
arrows, 5 silvered arrows, 5
sleep arrows)
Schemes & Plots
Other Gear amulet of the Lady Liliam seeks vengeful
clients as an excuse to visit other
planes, black dragon leather
planes, allowing herself leaves
armor.
of absence from Hell that get
SPECIAL ABILITIES longer each time. While she still
Entangle (Su) Lady Liliam carries the avenging wishes of her
carries a 50-ft.-long customers, she no longer rejoices
rope that entangles in the torture and killing as once
opponents of any size, she did. If her masters ever
as animate rope spell discover her change of mood,
(CL 16th, DC 20). the Black Avenger will find
She can hurl her rope herself in a lot of trouble.
30 ft. with no range
penalty. An erinyes’s rope

24 Shadow Planes & Pocket Worlds

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25